SkydiveMonkey 0 #1 October 20, 2002 What's the main differences in flight characteristics between a Hornet 170 and a Heatwave 170?____________________ Say no to subliminal messages Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cloud9 0 #2 October 20, 2002 I went from a Hornet150 to a Heatwave150. There is quite a bit of difference. First you have to really watch your body posistion with the heatwave on deployment. You need to be square and fly through the opening, or you'll get line twist. The Heatwave turns a little faster then the Hornet but not a lot. It does dive quite a bit longer in a turn then the Hornet. The Heatwave will stall a lot more radical then the Hornet, it will collaspe if you hold the toggles down and the recovery is a little more radical if your not carefull. The Heatwave has a little more speed, especially after a turn on landing and it has more lift then the Hornet but again not a lot more. It has quite a bit of oversteer after a toggle turn and also after rear riser turns, not so bad after a front riser turn. It takes a little getting used to. The main thing to watch for when you jump the heatwave is flying the opening and the oversteer, everything else will be fairly similar. All that said I really love my Heatwave but it did take a few jumps to get used to it. After about the first 10 umps on my Heatwave, I liked my Hornet better, but now with about 60 jumps on my Heatwave I like it better. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ChileRelleno 0 #3 October 20, 2002 Well the Heat wave is a fully elliptical high ZP performance canopy and exhibits most of the charateristics common to elliptical canopies. It tends to stay in dive longer before returning to level flight, its more sensitive to control input, you'll have to fly it and your body thru the openings more so than the Hornet, its faster and will probably have lower glide ratio but more lift and flare on landings. Whereas the Hornet is semi-elliptical ZP and is not nearly the hotrod the Heatwave is at the same wingloading... I currently fly a Hornet at 1.26 and its a great canopy, if I were to call it a Nascar Racer then the Heatwave would be a Formula One Racer. Both of these canopies are IMO reliable, well made and by far cheaper than comparable canopies currently on the market. ChileRelleno-Rodriguez Bro#414 Hellfish#511,MuffBro#3532,AnvilBro#9, D24868 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SkydiveMonkey 0 #4 October 20, 2002 My Hornet's at the same loading. openings are better now I'm flying through them now ) ____________________ Say no to subliminal messages Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ChileRelleno 0 #5 October 20, 2002 I had to chop mine once after spinning it up on opening, I wholly attribute this to my body position and packing. I only had about 20 jumps on it at the time, now 200+- jumps later I wouldn't trade her for anything... ChileRelleno-Rodriguez Bro#414 Hellfish#511,MuffBro#3532,AnvilBro#9, D24868 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SkydiveMonkey 0 #6 October 20, 2002 how many twists were there? lots or just a couple?____________________ Say no to subliminal messages Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ChileRelleno 0 #7 October 20, 2002 I opened up at about 2500 and it started spinning,( check alt) it was about into ( I'm thinking chop it or stop it) the risers when it stopped, check alt, 1500ft, cha'chink! RSL beats me, Pull reserve handle anyways, fly Tempo 210 into farmers cow pasture. Another jumper followed my main and freebag, the freebag landed on top of my main!!! What luck!!! ChileRelleno-Rodriguez Bro#414 Hellfish#511,MuffBro#3532,AnvilBro#9, D24868 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cloud9 0 #8 October 21, 2002 I had line twist a couple of times with my Hornet with no problems. I had line twist 3 times with my Heatwave. Twice no problem the third time in started spinning into the twist I couldn't recover and chopped. I think the Hornet is very stable with line twist the Heatwave maybe a little less so. But then again it is more fun to fly and surfs a bit further too. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skygod7777 0 #9 October 21, 2002 well i have about 200 jumps on a hornet, and about 300 on a heatwave 120, and about 200 on a heatwave 100, the canopy is very much different from a hornet. just as others have explained above. but as you "fly the opening" that just means to watch, if you see it starting to go off the the left, just lean a little in your harness, don't and i mean don't grab a rear riser and crank down on it in the opposite direction. you will give yourself line twist, and probably have to cut it away. as to the line twist, if you get it, at that wing loading, it won't be a big deal. you just have to kinda sit for a second, and see what's it's going to do. then try and stay nice and straight in the harness, and you'll spin out. i got line twist a couple of times, and i did what i just said, just sat there for a second, and let it settle down. now if it doesn't start to settle down and stop spinning, it probably isn't coming out. the 120 i wing loaded at 1.625 and the 100 at 1.95. had line twist on both of them before. i had to chop the 120 once, but i know that it was my body position when i pulled, so i fought it for a couple of seconds, and decided that i wasn't getting out of it, so by by main, and hello beautiful reserve. later Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AggieDave 6 #10 October 21, 2002 You know Sabre2's and Stillettos, right? That's just about the same comparison (although the Hornet/Heatwave are very similar, they do fly differently then the Sabre2/Stilletto). The Heatwave (as mentioned earlier) is a fully elliptical canopy, it turns much faster, dives harder and flies faster then the Hornet. A Hornet is a great "middle" canopy, you can fly it very conservatively or you can push it, either way it will be sort of forgiving (sort of, very sort of). A Heatwave is a moderately high performace canopy, you can slow it down and fly it conservately, BUT it is much less forgiving. Much less. Note: I used to jump a Hornet 190 and currently I jump a Heatwave 170. I really enjoyed both canopies, the Hornet was perfect for me at the time I jumped it and at the loading I jumped it and I'm very glad I jumped it, it taught me a lot and I was able to walk away from some stupid stuff I did that I wouldn't have been able to walk away from if I had been under a Heatwave.--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skygeek 0 #11 December 2, 2002 I've got about 100 jumps on my HW 150 loaded at about 1.55:1 and I have loved allof them. It has never treated me wrong. I will agree with all that has been said so far. It is a great canopy for the money. I've also had the joy of flying a h-mod heatwave 150 VERY nice openings almost like a specter. I though it was quite a bit faster than mine and seems to surf farth. I've had several line twists on my canopy and never had one dive on me yet. Each time I was able to kick out while the canopy flew straight and true. I love my heatwave and would not trade it for anything. Welcome to the New World Order. Expect no Mercy. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SkymonkeyONE 4 #12 December 3, 2002 This brings up a good point. I posted it a long time ago, but just in case you missed it, the first eliptical canopies to get "H-modded" were heatwaves and Alphas. Chuck Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
